The FONTAGRO 2025 call for proposals identified seven regional and interinstitutional projects that will promote the sustainability of agri-food systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. With an investment of nearly five million dollars, the projects will develop technologies and innovations with a strong on-the-ground impact to improve efficiency and resilience, and reduce the environmental footprint.

These projects were selected from among 55 proposals submitted by consortia formed by public and private institutions from at least two Latin American and Caribbean countries, in partnership with numerous extra-regional organizations. The proposals were evaluated by an external panel of international specialists with significant academic and professional experience.

As a result, during the XXI Extraordinary Meeting held on July 2 and 4, 2025, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the members of the FONTAGRO Board of Directors selected five projects for funding with their own resources, and other agencies decided to support two additional initiatives.

These projects will address key issues for agricultural sustainability, including innovations in corn disease control, the incorporation of cover crops to reduce emissions and increase carbon in soils under no-till farming, climate adaptation in production systems such as quinoa, and sustainable livestock farming in sensitive areas like the Gran Chaco. In addition, they will promote the use of advanced digital technologies to improve productive efficiency and will strengthen the adoption of bioinputs as a sustainable alternative for regional agricultural systems.

Since 1998, FONTAGRO has held 24 calls for proposals— almost one per year— with the aim of identifying and documenting successful experiences that can be scaled up by other funding actors in the global innovation system.

FONTAGRO wishes to thank all those who submitted projects for this 2025 Call for Proposals and congratulate the winners, which are detailed below:

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About FONTAGRO

FONTAGRO was created 1998 with the purpose of promoting the increase of the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources and the reduction of poverty in the region. The objective of FONTAGRO is to establish itself as a sustainable financing mechanism for the development of agricultural technology and innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean and Spain, and to establish a forum for the discussion of priority topics of technological innovation. The member countries are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the last 27 years 204 regional agricultural innovation platforms have been co-financed for an amount of US $ 150.7 million, which has reached 531 institutions and 35 countries worldwide.